I mean, at •best• that’s what I hear. At worst, I suspect that Kagi’s leadership is sympathetic to (or fully in bed with) the right-wing politics of Brave, and is using a claim of being apolitical as cover for their own politics. That would be par for the course when somebody gives this sort of “I’m staying out of politics” excuse for their politically charged actions.

6/

Which is it? Doesn’t matter.

When I give a company access to all of my searches, I’m giving them an •extraordinary• degree of trust. Earning that trust from me requires a keen ethical awareness, and a sense of responsibility that never shrinks into the shadows and says “Not our problem! Not our responsibility!” when market forces raise ethical questions.

I want a company with a moral compass and a spine.

7/

I want to know that the people at a search company believe that my ethical concerns are their concerns, that they view social responsibility as their responsibility, and that they won’t duck under a rock and make expedient excuses for themselves.

Who is that company? Not Google. Not Microsoft.

I’d hoped it might be Kagi.

Nope.

8/

Search is a wasteland right now. Alas. And there are no good choices.

But look, if I’m going to •pay• a company money for search, it needs to be a company run by ethically mature people. If and when Kagi is run by such people, maybe I’ll give that paid plan another go. For now, well, maybe these childish people will blunder their way to maturity and maybe they’ll just blunder, but either way, they won’t be doing it on my dime.

/end

What's most disappointing here is the lack of seeing how this clashes with #Kagi 's supposed mission of "humanizing the web".

You can't do that while pretending ethics aren't part of it. Or by defending your business relationship with someone who denies basic human rights to some.

I think it'd be recoverable for Kagi if they end up revisiting the issue, but right now, I'm disappointed a.f.

Kind of in agreement. However, I hope they are going to think about the issues now. It'd have been best if they had done so before, obviously ...

@kzhe

@larsmb @kzhe
What’s turned me off is the incapacity for thought. Whatever they decide about Brave now that they’re under pressure, I just don’t see a company that’s ready to play with the grown-ups.

Here’s the thing: the Brave issue is relatively minor compared to the ethical questions a search company is going to face. And they’ll often face those questions out of public sight, and free from public pressure.